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Good one, Brian!

More Rom is always a good thing and would be on my dream roster in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (along with Molly from Runaways, Rocket Racoon, and Speedball... the less spikey/angsty one they do have in the game now).

It also saddens me that Marvel hasn't released a Marvel Essentials West Coast Avengers yet. I love my Wackos.

Man, I love ROM so much.

I feel your pain! Death's Head's cameos in several Marvel titles keep me hoping that somewhere, somehow, he might end up a recurring support character!

I sure do miss the Avengers. (You know, the real ones, not Spidey, Wolverine, Luke Cage, Ares, Sentry, etc.)

Despite the public persona, the reality is that The Avengers have always been discriminatory against robots/cyborgs. It was only because of the threat of losing government funding that they added the Vision. My understanding is that ROM's membership was never a real posssibiity.,however, due to the "Rooney Rule". they were required to interview one robot/cyborg candidate. everytime they have an opening.

Cant marvel afford to buy the permanent rights to ROM now?

For some reason I first read this as "possibility of Ronin joining the Avengers". Needless to say, I was somewhat confused.

Spider-Man, Spider-Woman, Luke Cage, and Wolverine? That Avengers 221 cover is frighteningly clairvoyant. Factor in that Ronin should've been Daredevil, and it gets really scary.

As for the West Coast Avengers, why didn't we get Namor, Cyclops, Doc Samson, and Puck?

The thing that really stuck with me about ROM is how much it would have really sucked to not get to have fingers.

Are they even legally allowed to use ROM's image on covers anymore?

gven marvel reving some of its seldom used characters mostly to keep the copy right and that hasbro has the marvel toy license one would think that they would be able to now bring rom back. maybe Disney will finaly un tangle the mess over Rom though doubtfull he would join the avengers or any team

Man, I wish there weren't rights issues that prevent the republication of ROM stuff.

Worse, do you realize how many books can't be reprinted due to ROM's guest-appearance? I believe the Secret Wars II Omnibus is missing the ROM crossover issue. And I'd love a reprint of Mantlo's Hulk run, but they'd have to exclude #296 (which was a critical chapter in the return of the savage Hulk) because of ROM.

I miss those late 70s/early 80s days when Marvel experimented a LOT and came up with characters that maybe didn't become iconic, but were a lot of fun to read, like Rom, Power Pack, Alpha Flight, Spider-Woman etc. I understand it's safer to bet on yet another Avengers or X-Men book, but if you don't take risks you'll never find the next "Big Thing".

You'd think with the popularity of Transformers and other action figures today, whoever has the rights to Rom would renegotiate a deal with Marvel.

Oh, and that Invisible Girl pun on the Avengers cover was laaaame.

Hey, looking at the cover of #221 again, I see six members who made Bendis' New Avengers, plus Daredevil (who kinda-sorta-ok-he-really-didn't,-but-we-meant-to). Wonder if that cover influenced the new lineup?

Man, I want me some ROM reprints.

Pick Two? Okay! I pick ROM and Dazzler!

But then again, that would never happen. No comic could ever contain that much awesomeness. It goes against the laws of physics...

@ Craig: Yeah, it's fascinating how no fewer than 6 characters on that Avengers #221 cover ended up in Bendis's New Avengers...

I totally thought this post was going to be related to 9/11.

I am shocked by how blatantly they are plagiarising those classic New Avengers-Secret Invasion covers!

Marvel really does need to buy ROM. Did Parker Brothers ever make any money from ROM at all, aside from the comic royalties? You'd think they'd be eager to sell, or at least sign a long-term licensing deal. Maybe their asking price is too high for Marvel, because internet sites like this have convinced them there is a huge demand for more ROM comics.

ROM would never join the Avengers, though. They don't fight Dire Wraiths often enough.

Power Man? Spider-Man? Wolverine? Spider-Woman? Avengers? Psh!

They haven't taunted you in years about Rom.

...Meanwhile, the floating of Hercules contemplates how mind-boggling awesome he truly is. Only William Shatner has ever known such thoughts.

floating head, rather. Not like I care, I'm drinking my lunch today.

In a perfect world, Parker Brothers (or the current Rom owner) would allow Marvel to release ROM as three(?)Essential volumes and the proceeds would go to assist with Bill Mantlo's medical expenses.

I'm pretty sure a ROM appearance got reprinted in one of the Essential X-Men books. I'm not sure if they got the rights or it just slipped under the radar.

Yeah, the ROM situation is ridiculous. So many great issues of comics from Power Man & Iron Fist to The Incredible Hulk don't get reprinted because ROM shows up in them. And it's not like there aren't Galadorian Spaceknights showing up now and then even today, just not ROM. Marvel really needs to get that rights situation sorted out. Make mine ROM!

I've always thought Doc Samson would make a great Avenger.

And a great part of a She Hulk/Hawkeye/Samson love triangle.

That's just what I was going MacIver. I had seen that cover, I'd think Spidey and Wolverine were total red herrings

Okay, I pick Black Bolt and the Silver Surfer.

Dr. Doom? Kang? Ultron? Terminus? All set.

Wait, no, I pick Daredevil, so he can beat Ultron with a stick again. And Luke Cage, because he looks sort of stunned to be on the cover.

"In a perfect world, Parker Brothers (or the current Rom owner) would allow Marvel to release ROM as three(?)Essential volumes and the proceeds would go to assist with Bill Mantlo's medical expenses."

Fabulous, fabulous idea.

The SWII crossover issue (72 of Rom's own run), Hulk (296) & PM/IF (73) issues have been mentioned, but there's also a late Marvel two In One issues 99 that features Rom.

The UXM cameo is on p22 of #187 and is reprinted in essential 5

Hey Brian, how about a Legends piece on the status of the ROM rights, who owns them, and why they're not selling (or Marvel's not buying)?

PS: Rom, Starshine and the Spaceknights also appear in their reprinted Marvel universe entries in the deluxe edition Essentials. Spaceknight & Rom also have standard edition entries.

On Mondays, I'm actually playing in a Champions (paper & dice) RPG game where one of the other players is playing a SpaceKnight in training.

Whereas, I'm playing a scientist, that has an alternate form - effectively, I'm being possessed by the ghost of The Tick, who was assassinated a few years earlier in this polygot setting, because of his being a danger to some villain's plans (granted, the same villain also assassinated Wonder Woman, and desecrated her corpse, for the same reason, in the backstory).

My character calls the other side of himself two things - officially, he's "The Flea" (he jumps a lot more than the tick does, havign acquired superleap), and "Him" (a reference to Dom deLuise's Captain Chaos).